In 1673 the Society of Apothecaries of London founded a Physic Garden at Chelsea, so that their apprentices could learn to grow medicinal plants and study their uses. Yesterday I visited the garden, for the second time this summer, and found many new delights amongst its paths. It is a place where a sense of calm descends as you walk in, a place to shed all the bustle and cares of London and breathe in deeply from the heavy scent of evening flowers. Follow me in a walk round the garden.

The pink dappling effect of hydrangeas, against the dark of their leaves.

A harvest of vibrant pumpkins and gourds shone out, glowing in the evening light.

Honey bees and bumbles buzzed gently, busy using up their last minutes of light amongst the sunflowers.

Carder bee

A sculpture exhibition was on in the garden. Above is a seed-pod sculpture.

I was fascinated to learn about squirting cucumbers! Have any of my readers ever been squirted by one?

And excited to find a huge bumble, bottom wriggling in the air, on these vibrant blue flowers.

Another sculpture, this one swaying high amongst the trees.

Summer pudding, full of juicy berries, was the perfect dessert to eat in the garden’s Tangerine Dream Cafe as dusk fell.

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About Emily Scott

I am a UK beekeeper who has recently moved from London to windswept, wet Cornwall. I first started keeping bees in the Ealing Beekeepers Association’s local apiary in 2008, when I created this blog as a record for myself of my various beekeeping related disasters and - hopefully! - future successes.

I love the Chelsea Physic Garden. Tim Cutler, the garden fellow (think he is still there) writes lovely articles about the traditions and uses of the plants in the garden. Lovely photos of bumbles and solitaries 🙂

Yes! I like to imagine it produces a squelching noise as it projectile squirts people standing several metres away, but I’m not sure if that’s close to reality at all. The inspiration for triffids perhaps?